RE closing its doors in West Bottoms, opens new location

After seven years in the West Bottoms, family-owned home décor and furnishings store RE (previously known as Restoration Emporium) will close its original store location the third week of January.

A new location in the Crossroads Arts District opened in December at 1717 Washington St.

Founded in 2011, RE was one of the pioneering businesses in the West Bottoms district. The West Bottoms location at 1300 Liberty St. will hold a store closing sale later this month.

The move is bittersweet, according to co-owner and founder Chrysy Huff.

“We were surprised and a little disappointed when we found our building had been sold,” Huff told Thinking Bigger. “The West Bottoms has been changing over the past year—we’ve seen the change in shopping traffic, but we will be sad. We’ve been there seven years; that was where we started and we love the people down there.”

While disheartened to see the original location closed, Huff still spoke excitedly about RE’s new Crossroads location. The company’s new space is large enough to fit the store’s needs and house its corporate headquarters.

Additionally, RE has teamed up alongside KC Furnishing Co., and the two companies will release a custom-made upholstery line in mid- to late-January. With the new building’s design, customers can watch the manufacturing and furnishing processes through a glass separating wall as they shop.

“Our old building was so big and fit our needs so much that trying to find another building that could do that in this area was almost impossible,” Huff said. “But our new location is beautiful. We’re really excited.”